Small businesses’ chances of survival are in decline due to fierce competition from giant supermarkets in Bournemouth.
The multinational supermarkets have pulled the rug from under small shops by attracting the majority of customers, claim small grocery shop owners.
A corner shop owner, Raj A said: “It is difficult to compete with giant supermarkets such as Tesco or Asda which sell everything and offer special prices for their customers.’’
He added: “The number of customers has decreased rapidly with the passage of years particularly after the economic crisis which forced people to shop at the bigger supermarkets.’’
Kumar Nathan is another corner shop owner who is striving to keep his shop open despite the difficulties, he said: “Our businesses are going down and might disappear completely one day.’’
Nathan said that the small business sector is dying nowadays as it becomes a supplier for only refreshments and daily consumables.
“The majority of my shop customers are young people who do not pay much attention to the price differences, but the older customers tend to shop at the big supermarkets where prices are better,’’ he said.
